While modern lighting control systems have drawn upon digital control and communication techniques to improve system performance, they fall short of meeting the overall needs of a sophisticated lighting performance.
This is due in part to the lack of an effective two-way communication system between the lamps and the console control system. Such a system plays a key role, not only in cue set-up and execution, but also in the highly important modes of data uploading and diagnostics, modes which must be implemented without interfering in the often intense cue execution activities of the system.
Prior art communicaion systems fail to meet these requirements either because communication is essentially one way, or because only a rudimentary and uncoordinated two-way system is envisioned.
Also inadequately treated in prior art systems is the need to provide, with utmost assurance, an error free lighting performance. A single dead or renegade lamp can mar a public performance, putting at risk the reputations of those involved.
The advent of higher performance multiple parameter lamps, and the increasing utilization of larger numbers of those lamps have intensified the diagnostics problem so that far more than gross lamp response must be verified. One lamp out of sync with ten companions, or one which leaves an actor in the dark at a dramatic moment can have a disastrous effect. To detect these malfunctions before they occur while accommodating the needs for high speed data transfer in the electronically harsh environment of a performance setting is a challenging task.